Known techniques and devices for providing protection against weather elements, such as rain, snow, hail and sleet, include shelter structures, such as, tents and other canopy structures. These structures are often used outdoors, for activities that may include camping. Because these tents are used in the outdoors and may be exposed to the weather elements, including wind, they often need to be secured to the ground, by stakes or other strong and substantial securing means.
In addition, use of these tent structures may vary from requiring portable shelters that can be moved from one place to another to larger tent structures that may include rigid supports that help keep the structure at a single location for an extended amount of time. While the portable shelters may offer a user with flexibility of where the shelter can be used, this flexibility may be limited when the user will be at locations experiencing, for example, heavy winds and/or rain. While larger and more rigid tent structures may be able to withstand heavy winds and/or rain, they are not portable by the user.
Tent structures are also often used in activities that may require privacy, such as sleeping and changing clothing. These structures usually include fabric sheets or other cloth-like material that are mounted on and/or secured to poles. Coupled with the desire to provide protection against the weather elements, these structures may be substantially waterproof and/or leak-proof in an effort to keep users dry. An issue with these structures is that while they may prevent water from entering the structure, they do not allow for the admittance of air therethrough, which may limit the user's ability to received required ventilation. In addition, should the user need to move the structure to, for example, a drier location, the user will have to exit the structure in order to do so, which may expose the user to undesirable weather elements and/or insects and/or bugs that are outside the structure. A user's exposure to insects, such as mosquitos, can cause potentially serious health risks. For instance, users may be exposed to an Aedes species mosquitos infected with the Zika virus—a virus for which no vaccine and/or medicinal treatment are presently available. If users are bitten by an infected Aedes species mosquito, the user may experience fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis, headache and/or muscle pain. A pregnant user may pass the Zika virus to her unborn fetus. Thus, limiting exposure to insects that may be infected with serious
In view of the disadvantages associated with currently available methods and devices for protection against weather elements, there is a need for a device and method that provides full body protection against weather elements, while also providing adequate ventilation for a user. There is also a need for a protective enclosure that inhibits the admittance of bugs and/or insects within the enclosure, while also providing all-around water resistance and ventilation for the user, and being versatile enough to be moved from one location to another without requiring the user to exit the device. In addition, there is a need for a protective enclosure that is easily transportable, without requiring assembly of multiple components and tools to secure the device to various outdoor groundcover surfaces, such as grass, dirt, sand, concrete, stone, synthetic (e.g. rubber) or natural mulch, wood chips, engineered wood fiber, pavers, poured rubber, rubber tiles, wood decking, pea gravel, synthetic turf, and the like.